For Over 30 Years... Small Enough to Care, Big Enough to Win!

$28 Million Dollar Verdict for Death Caused by Drunk Driver - An Allegheny County jury awarded one of the largest civil verdicts in county history to three families from Elizabeth, PA, who suffered death or injuries in a September 2009 crash which occurred in the Lincoln Place section of Pittsburgh. The accident happened when a young man had been drinking all day at a Gun Bash held at the Elks club on Buttermilk Hollow Road crashed within minutes after leaving the club. Read the full case details
here.

Jury Verdict in excess $7 Million Dollars for Reckless Driving Death -A Canonsburg, Washington County, auto parts salesman was fatally injured in an automobile accident that occurred near Bridgeville, Allegheny County, when a car being driven at an excessive speed crossed the center line and caused the fatal collision. A jury in Allegheny County awarded his wife and two children an amount in excess of $7 million, including the largest punitive damage award ever entered against a single individual in the state of Pennsylvania.

Right now, insurance companies are required to report to the government when they settle lawsuits and pay money to patients, but this is the first time that patients will be able to report medical mistakes as soon as they happen to them. The federal government says they would like to have the information so they can analyze it and look for trends to help prevent such errors in the future.

Assuming the White House approves the project, the government hopes to get the project underway in May 2013. Questionnaires would be available at kiosks in hospitals and in doctor's offices. The government would publicize the program by sending pamphlets to patient's homes or distributing them through pharmacies.

We think it is a great idea that the government give patients the right to describe the problem they have had with doctor or hospital mistakes. It would give the government a good flavor for the wide variety of mistakes that happen in physician offices and in hospitals.

Doctors no doubt will criticize the program by saying that patients may report virtually anything, however minor or unrelated it is to medical care. That may be true in isolated cases, but overall it seems that the program will give the federal government some valuable information to track the types of mistakes which are being committed, who is making them, and what can be done to prevent them. After all, prevention is the ultimate name of the game.